born July 30, 1980 to Frank & Alice Longbottom
Gryffindor 1991-1998; member of Dumbledore’s Army
married to Hannah Abbott
Herbology Professor at Hogwarts School

“Well, my gran brought me up and she’s a witch,” said Neville, “but the family thought I was all-Muggle for ages….”

A barn owl brought Neville a small package from his grandmother. He opened it excitedly and showed them a glass ball the size of a large marble, which seemed to be full of white smoke. “It’s a Remembrall!” he explained. “Gran knows I forget things — this tells you if there’s something you’ve forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this and if it turns red — oh…” His face fell, because the Remembrall had suddenly glowed scarlet, “You’ve forgotten something….”

“Neville is actually quite a tragic figure to me… because there’s a lot of Neville in me. This feeling of just never being quite good enough – I mean, we’ve all felt that at some point.”

–J.K. Rowling (October 1999)

“There are all kinds of courage,” said Dumbledore, smiling. “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom.”

“I do prize courage in all its various ramifications. I value it more highly than any other virtue and by that I mean not just physical courage and flashy courage, but moral courage. And I wanted to make that point in a very first book with Neville, because Neville doesn’t have that that showy macho type of courage that Harry shows playing quidditch. But at the end, what Neville does at the end of Philosopher’s Stone, to stand up to his friends and risk their dislike and approval, is hugely courageous.”

–J.K. Rowling (July 2005)

Luna turned her pale eyes on [Neville]. “And I don’t know who you are.”
“I’m nobody,” said Neville hurriedly.

“Well, it’s nothing to be ashamed of!” said Mrs. Longbottom angrily. “You should be proud, Neville, proud! They didn’t give their health and their sanity so their only son would be ashamed of them, you know!”
“I’m not ashamed,” said Neville, very faintly, still looking anywhere but at Harry and the others….
“Well, you’ve got a funny way of showing it!” said Mrs. Longbottom.

“He’s a good boy,” she said, casting a sternly appraising look down her rather bony nose at Neville, “but he hasn’t got his father’s talent, I’m afraid to say.”

Neville’s childhood had been blighted by Voldemort just as much as Harry’s had, but Neville had no idea how close he had come to having Harry’s destiny. The prophecy could have referred to either of them, yet, for his own inscrutable reasons, Voldemort had chosen to believe that Harry was the one meant. Had Voldemort chosen Neville, [would it] be Neville sitting opposite Harry bearing the lightning-shaped scar and the weight of the prophecy?

The news of his parents’ attackers’ escape had wrought a strange and even slightly alarming change in [Neville]. He… barely spoke during the DA meetings any more, but worked relentlessly on every new jinx and counter-curse Harry taught them, his plump face screwed up in concentration, apparently indifferent to injuries or accidents and working harder than anyone else in the room. He was improving so fast it was quite unnerving and when Harry taught them the Shield Charm – a means of deflecting minor jinxes so that they rebounded upon the attacker – only Hermione mastered the charm faster than Neville.

“We were all in the DA together,” said Neville quietly. “It was all supposed to be about fighting You-Know-Who, wasn’t it? And this is the first chance we’ve had to do something real – or was that all just a game or something?”
“No — of course it wasn’t -” said Harry impatiently.
“Then we should come too,” said Neville simply. “We want to help.”

“Neville’s the man!”

Neville seized his wrist as Harry made to move on. “We’re all going to keep fighting, Harry. You know that?”

“I love Neville…. And he really was The Boy It Could’ve Been, because as you know, as I made clear, he was born hours before Harry, he was born on the 30th of July, Voldemort singled him out as the other possibility. But the great thing about Neville’s story for me, the over-arching story about Neville, is that he proves himself to be a boy who could’ve done it too…. Neville was, I think, amazing in the final battle, and proved himself a hundred times over worthy of being a Gryffindor, his parents’ son, despite the very difficult childhood he had in the hands of his very pushy grandmother.”

“[Neville is] very cool among the students…. He marries… the new landlady at the Leaky Cauldron, Hannah Abbott…. I like to imagine him showing his [DA coin] to his admiring pupils.”

–J.K. Rowling (July 2007 & October 2007)

“But you are a pureblood, aren’t you, my brave boy?” Voldemort asked Neville, who stood facing him, his empty hands curled into fists.
“So what if I am?” said Neville loudly.
“You show spirit and bravery, and you come of noble stock. You will make a very valuable Death Eater. We need your kind, Neville Longbottom.”
“I’ll join you when hell freezes over,” said Neville. “Dumbledore’s Army!” he shouted, and there was an answering cheer from the crowd, whom Voldemort’s Silencing Charms seemed unable to hold….

16 Responses to “Neville Longbottom”

Josie, this is beyond awesome. Neville is my next favorite character behind Snape, and his story throughout the series is one of coming into one’s own by digging deep within himself and finding the proper courage to be the hero he always could be. Otherwise the sorting hat wouldn’t have put him in Gryffindor. Well done.

Thank you for posting this. I always love seeing the artwork you post. Neville is probably one of my favorite characters.

One thing I love about Neville is his understanding of human nature. In book 7 for example, he talks about how Harry’s sticking up to Umbridge led to his own (Neville’s) sticking up for muggles “I got this one…for asking her how much muggle blood she and her brother have got.” Nevile has a depth of understanding which most likely comes from his own blighted childhood. No wonder the future students of Hogwarts love him!

I discovered on Pottermore recently that Neville’s sorting took so long, not because the Hat wasn’t sure what House to put him in, but because Neville was intimidated by the reputation Gryffindor had, and asked to be put in the much safer Hufflepuff. So they argued about it for almost five minutes, and the Hat won.

I loved Neville because he’s very human – he doesn’t feel good enough, and he does have pressure coming from all sides, but when the going gets tough he comes through. I think that the St Mungo’s scene is one of the most heart-breaking in the series.

*delurking* Thank you for posting this! Neville is my absolute favorite character (and we all know that’s saying a lot, with so many amazing characters from Jo). I always saw so much of myself in him, I always wish we got to see more, especially during his 7th year. I’m also curious as to what his short time as an auror held for him before taking up his post at Hogwarts. Anyone have any ideas?

I think Neville’s story has a lot to teach us about judging people. In the first few books, he was a bit of a joke, you know – he was the chubby, forgetful boy who was bottom of the class, got lost in the corridors, and melted his cauldron on a regular basis. No one really took him seriously. He was dismissed as comic relief. We learned how big a mistake that was, because Neville becomes one of the greatest and bravest wizards we’ve ever seen. He faces down the Death Eaters. He leads the D.A. in Harry’s absence. He stands up to torture. He defies Voldemort to his face, and destroys the final horcrux. Who could have predicted, back in book 1, that the boy who had never earned a point for Gryffindor would lead a rebellion?

Furthermore, Neville’s story could have easily gone in the opposite direction. He’s not the first Gryffindor to be laughed at, put down, and underestimated. He could have become as bitter and traitorous as Peter Pettigrew, but Neville never shows a sign of being anything but goodhearted. I think we can detect the power of love as clearly in the Boy Who Might Have Been as in the Chosen One.

Yay! Neville! Josie, thank you so much for this amazing website. I’m disappointed that I couldn’t participate in waiting and talking with other commenters, but I love coming to the site again and again.

Here’s the thing about Harry Potter—there will be a fanbase for a long time. A lot of people who were kids when Harry Potter came out are starting to have kids of their own, and they can read Harry Potter to their kids. And then maybe their kids will like it as much as them. So then those kids might pass it on to THEIR kids. And on and on. People can argue that this could happen with any book. But Harry Potter has so many fans around the world that this is nearly certain to happen. Could you honestly say that about Twilight or Percy Jackson or The Hunger Games?

Neville is one of my absolute favourite characters! Wouldn’t it be great to read a book from Neville’s perspective that took place at Hogwarts during DH?! Everything that went on at the school while the trio was away hunting down horcruxes could easily fill an entire novel.

@anna: You’re absolutely right! As I was 21 when PS was first published in Sweden, I fell in love with the Harry Potter books as an adult, and I know I would have loved them as a child as well. Therefore I couldn’t wait until my daughter was old enough to read them and discover this wonderful world together with me. Now when she’s nine, we’re on our second read-through and we’re both madly in love with the series. I am positive this will become a tradition in our family that will go on for generations! And if she won’t read the books to her kids, I will!